


any greater happiness

by destiny919



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anakin and Padmé are just friends, Banter, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Gratuitous use of pet names and 'master', M/M, No Beta We Die Like Clones, Obi-Wan's Depression (character), Sharing a Bed, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:40:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29034819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/destiny919/pseuds/destiny919
Summary: "What do you wanna do when the war is over?"Quiet conversation during a rare reprieve, dreaming of a longer one.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 7
Kudos: 90





	any greater happiness

**Author's Note:**

> y'all, i wrote this WHOLE-ASS THING at five in the fucking am on the NOTES APP OF MY PHONE. the force was so with me.
> 
> title source in the end notes

Completing their latest mission and being recalled straight to Coruscant instead of returning to their fleet means that Anakin and Obi-Wan have two full days spent in the peaceful limbo of long-distance hyperspace travel, and they're spending the first few hours of it laying in their cramped bunk. It wouldn't be so cramped if they actually used the other one instead of squeezing into "Anakin's" together. But it isn't much of a problem since distance is typically not something they're seeking out when in it together.

Proving this point, Obi-Wan is laying on his back with one arm snugly wrapped around Anakin, curled against his side with a long leg thrown over his, drowsy yet still tense. They'll talk for a bit before Anakin relaxes enough for Obi-Wan to soothe him to sleep through their bond. 

"What do you wanna do when the war is over?" Anakin asks, tucking his cheek against Obi-Wan's shoulder.

He frowns. "What do you mean?" They would continue being Jedi...? Wouldn't they? Does Anakin want to leave him? Obi-Wan keeps his breathing carefully even so he may wait and hear Anakin out before allowing panic to crystallize in his gut. 

Anakin huffs. "I know that even when the war ends there's going to be all kinds of cleanup and  _ diplomacy  _ and Seppie holdouts-"

"Assuming we're the winners," Obi-Wan mutters despite himself. At least from the sound of it Anakin is still picturing much the same thing Obi-Wan is, in the dreamlike future where they're no longer at war.

"Don't be like that, Master," Anakin says quietly. "We have to hope."

"I'm afraid I rely solely on yours much of the time, dear one. It truly springs eternal and is yet another reason I love you so." He kisses Anakin's forehead.

Blushing sweetly, Anakin says, "I love you too. Anyway, even with all that, they'll have to give us  _ some _ leave, right? We deserve a chance to rest, us and the boys won this whole kriffing war for them singlehandedly-"

"Quite a prediction you're making there, my love."

"Shut up, you're personally in command of like ninety-seven percent of the GAR."

"Ninety-eight," Obi-Wan says wryly. "And would that I were not." He sighs. "Still, if we're assuming I won't be running a war forever-"

"Which we are," Anakin interrupts.

"-Then I suppose yes, I might feel rather insistent on taking some time off. For you, at least." 

Anakin octopuses around him even more tightly, arms circling his waist and both legs tangling with his, while shaking his head. "You're fucking ridiculous, Master, you know that?"

"Why this time, Padawan?"

"As if I'd ever be interested in a vacation without you."

"Oh," Obi-Wan says softly. "Alright then, dear one. What would you like to do?"

_ "Oh _ no, after that little bit of dumbassery, we're talking about what  _ you _ wanna do." Anakin pinches his ribs, making Obi-Wan nudge him. 

" 'Dumbassery'?" he says sardonically.

"You heard me."

He huffs a bit. "Alright, fine, if I were taken off missions for a while-"

"Nope," Anakin interrupts again. "You are  _ not _ saying just rest at the Temple and drink tea and read weird old poetry."

"That's not  _ everything _ I had in mind," Obi-Wan says, raising his eyebrows.

Anakin turns faintly pink again. "Nah. I still wanna go on a  _ vacation.  _ A trip to some planet that hasn't been destroyed by the war."

Obi-wan hums. "Those might be few and far between, darling. Perhaps Padme will let us use Varykino? Though I would feel rather guilty, since there's no way she'd be there herself and not out putting the galaxy back together."

"Yeah," Anakin says glumly. "It'd feel super weird to be there without her, anyway. But we do need somewhere with enough space and privacy for us to not scar Snips for life anymore than we already have." They both dissolve into laughter for a moment, remembering sadly more than one occasion when their Padawan found her masters in a rather compromising position and proceeded to run across the ship howling for one of their troopers to take her 'sabers and put one through each eye.

"Ahsoka is coming with us, is she?" Obi-Wan teases a little. "Not just a lovers' retreat, then?"

Anakin's eyes slide shut. "Ha. Yeah, of course she's coming. I want my family together."

"And that's the three of us?" Obi-Wan says in a soft voice, his heart feeling very full under Anakin's cheek. It's not the Jedi way, the whole Order is supposed to be their family of sorts, but Obi-Wan cannot deny that his bonds with Anakin and Ahsoka vastly transcend anything he feels for other Jedi. He was much more attached to Qui-Gon than Padawans are supposed to be, as well. But he would still consider the rest of the Order as his family at large, and wishes for Anakin to feel the same, the same way he has since their partnership first began.

"Pretty much." Anakin is quiet. "Plus our men."

He strokes along Anakin's spine, making him stretch and lean into it. "Your family is myself, Ahsoka, and our two hundred clone troopers?" 

"Sometimes a family can be three Jedi and a couple hundred sentient human rights violations," Anakin mumbles.

"It can indeed," Obi-Wan says, and his smile is audible. "The Jedi will also always be your family, Anakin. I know you've never felt quite accepted by our community-"

"Never  _ been _ accepted," Anakin corrects him waspishly.

"Perhaps not by all, no," Obi-Wan concedes. "Sweetheart, we spent so much time talking about this when you were a child. It is  _ far _ from everyone, and for those who have truly tried to alienate you, its been because of jealousy and a refusal to treat you with the compassion and understanding you have always deserved, and  _ entirely _ opposed to the Jedi way. Anakin, you belong among our ranks and in our halls more than any of them, and nothing they say can change that."

There is a short, ringing pause, and then Anakin whispers, "Thank you, Master." After a minute he adds, "I still want to take a nice trip somewhere  _ away _ from the Temple, though. Just..." He sighs. "Away from anything that will remind me of the war. I'm not gonna need any help remembering." Obi-Wan responds to the sour tone by turning on his side to wrap both arms more securely around him and tuck Anakin's head under his chin. 

"It's true that I will never be able to see the Temple in the same way again," Obi-Wan says. "So few Jedi left in the halls, such a grim atmosphere..." His turn to sigh, as usual. "Things were going wrong for a long time before the war started, my Padawan. I fear you have never actually been in the Temple at its best, when the light  _ sings _ through the halls, Anakin, truly it does. And I...I fear that will never return. The war has cost us too much and we cannot go back." He stares somewhere past Anakin's head, somewhere parsecs and years away from their little bunk.

"Then...I guess we have to go forward?" Anakin suggests.

Obi-Wan laughs. "Darling, that's the wisest thing you've ever said."

"Well," he says, "not a particularly high bar, is it?"

"Higher than you think, Anakin. It's higher than you think."

**Author's Note:**

> “I can’t think of any greater happiness than to be with you all the time, without interruption, endlessly, even though I feel that here in this world there’s no undisturbed place for our love, neither in the village nor anywhere else; and I dream of a grave, deep and narrow, where we could clasp each other in our arms as with clamps, and I would hide my face in you and you would hide your face in me, and nobody would ever see us any more.”
> 
> \- Franz Kafka, The Castle


End file.
